California, Decertify Paperless Voting Machines

--- ActForChange <actforchange [at] act.actforchange.com> wrote:

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Urgent Alert: California, Decertify Paperless Voting Machines

ACTFORCHANGE ACTIVISM UPDATE: April 20, 2004
You are receiving this newsletter because you have previously taken action on ActForChange in support of progressive values.

IN THIS BULLETIN:

FEATURED ACTION: Decertify Paperless Voting Machines
ACTIVISM OPPORTUNITY: Attend the "Computer Ate My Vote" Rally in Sacramento Tomorrow
SPECIAL OPPORTUNITY: Donate to Register Voters

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Decertify Paperless Voting Machines

Contributed by Electronic Frontier Foundation

On April 21 & 22, the California Secretary of State's Voting Systems and Procedures Panel will decide whether to decertify paperless electronic voting systems before the November election. The call for decertification arose in California following the disenfranchisement of thousands of California voters during the March 2, 2004, election due to technical problems with electronic voting systems. In Alameda County, problems with Diebold smart card encoders affected one-fourth of the County's polling places; in San Diego County, encoder problems affected nearly 40 percent of the County's polling places. In Orange County, thousands of voters were given the wrong electronic ballots; many were unable to cast votes in contests for which they were eligible, while others were allowed to vote in districts in which they did not reside.

Urge Secretary of State Kevin Shelley to decertify paperless electronic voting machines in California.

Click here to take action!

Please forward this newsletter to your friends and help spread the word about this important campaign!


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Attend the "Computer Ate My Vote" Rally in Sacramento Tomorrow

Tell California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley to decertify paperless electronic voting machines at a rally and press conference. The rally will feature "The Computer Ate My Vote!" t-shirts and signs as well as the debut of True Majority's dancing "Hungry Computer." Sponsored by True Majority and featuring Verified Voting, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the California Voter Foundation.

When: Wednesday, April 21st at 9:30 a.m.
Where: California Secretary of State office, 1500 11th Street, Sacramento, in front of the building.

The deadline for winning a voter-verified paper ballot for this November's election is fast approaching, and this may be our best chance. Activists from as far away as San Diego are already planning to attend #151; please carve out 30 minutes to show up Wednesday morning if you can.

For more information or, if you can come a little early and take part in setting up the event, please send mail to matt [at] mattholland.com with a contact phone number, and he'll make you a TrueMajority Staffer-for-a-Day (and there's probably some ice cream in it for you, too).

We realize that California is a big state, and some of you receiving this live too far away to show up in person. You can still help by forwarding this announcement to democracy-minded folks you know in the Sacramento area.

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Donate to Support Voter Registration

Working Assets is dedicating millions of dollars to voter registration efforts, at no additional cost to our members. We've already registered more than 500,000 voters, and with your help, we can do even more. Register more people, and motivate more individuals to show up at the polls.

Help groups like Project Vote, the NAACP National Voter Fund and Verified Voting register one million new voters with a generous contribution to the Working Assets Voter Registration Fund.

Please give generously. Every dollar you contribute will be spent registering voters who can help us build a better world. Click here to make a tax-deductible contribution right now.

Click here to donate now!

Please forward this newsletter to your friends and help spread the word about this important campaign!

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Thank you for speaking out on issues that matter. Together we can make a difference.

Jennifer Willis
Director
ActForChange.com